Just on the right of Town Hall, “Via della Madonna” crosses with a bridge one of our “fossi” (canals) and reaches into the quarter of Venice. In the middle of this bridge, on its parapet, there is a statue of St John Nepomucene with a practically illegible inscription on the plinth. The Saint was placed there to honor the visit, on March 6th 1739, of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, as the new Grand Dukes of Tuscany.John of Nepomuk or John Nepomucene (1345-1393) is a national Saint of the Czech Republic. In 1393 he was made the vicar-general of the Archbishop of Prague. In the same year, on March 20th, he was tortured and thrown into the river Vltava from Charles Bridge in Prague at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia. He had refused to betray the confessional secret of the Queen.
On the basis of his martyrdom, John of Nepomuk is considered a patron against calumnies and, by the cause of his death, a protector from waters and floods. Statues of the Saint are often found on many bridges around Europe. The Saint was probably a bit absent-minded during last week flash flood here in Livorno, because in several streets the water reached knee-deep level. John of Nepomuk, obviously a modern and enterprising Saint, has an official website too: http://www.sjn.cz/eng/.
3 comments:
Bellissimi i colori di queste due foto. Un'atmosfera veramente ...beata! Buon fine settimana!
Very nice photos and I appreciate the history lesson. Amazing the way religious artifacts dominate much of Europe.
Your last two lines are hilarious! I hope the flood waters have receded though.
Thank you for this very interesting post. "Nepomuceno" is a well-known surname here in the Philippines — a Hispanized version of "Nepomuk," I guess. This is the first time I've heard of this saint though, but that's not surprising since there are so many of them!
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